Foreshadow
by PhobicBee
Summary: The future is something to hope for. Haley/Nathan. AU-ish.


FORESHADOW

..

"What's the deal with you and Nathan?"

Lucas questions with a searching look that makes Haley feel like she should feel guilty for sharing a few conversations with the step-brother that Lucas has always loathed.

"It's nothing. He says a few sentences, I say a few back, that's all. Just a consequence of being lab partners, is all." Haley can look him in the eye and say this cause even though she's talking to Nathan, it doesn't mean she automatically starts liking him or anything like that. He's still that insufferable asshole who torments her best friends. But Haley is a big believer in change. He maybe an asshole but maybe one day he'll be more than that.

"He talks to others like they are shit. He talks to you like he _respects_ you."

Haley doesn't think there is much of a difference in how Nathan speaks with her and others. If anything at all, he tries to keep the swear words to a minimum. That's all. He's not even above talking shit about Lucas in front of her. Not that she lets those statements pass by unheeded. The point is, Nathan is no different when he's with her than when he's with her. And oh yeah, he doesn't hit on her at all. Cause she's not his type. Which is something to be thankful for she guesses.

"I am his tutor," she hazards, thinking that maybe that's where the respect stems from.

Lucas sighs heavily. "That's not it Hales. That day in the locker room, some junior was talking shit about you." Haley flinches and Lucas lays a reassuring arm on her before carrying on.

"But before I could get to him, Nathan got to him. And socked him pretty hard before that little shit's friends jumped in and then I jumped in and well…" he points to his split lip with a rueful smile. Haley winces in sympathy, grateful for a friend like him.

"The point is Hales. That was Nathan Scott jumping to your defence. Of his own accord. As far as I know, the guy is a cocky bastard. That's why I need to know what's going on. Are…are you two…_involved_?" Lucas's careful phrasing of the last part still doesn't hide the hurt that flitters across his face.

"That would explain his black eye." Hayley muses.

"And I think you know me better than I know myself, Luke," Haley admonishes. " Nathan may have jumped to my defence, which is certainly very nice of him but that's doesn't mean there is anything going on. There is nothing going on. He's not the guy for me, never will be. But maybe, he's something more than what we expect him to be." Haley says the last part with an earnestness that makes Lucas insides churn because he knows that when Haley gets like that, she really thinks that there is hope that he may be a better person.

But the thing is, Lucas doesn't want Haley to be hurt when her expectations fall through. Because even though Nathan jumped to Haley's defence, it dosen't instantly absolve him of everything. Lucas will need a lot more than that to believe that he's something more than just another shallow jock.

So he just smiles and nods and take her by the shoulders and leads her out of their classroom and to the next class and hopes against hope that Nathan is more than what he seems because, God help him if Haley _even_ sheds _one_ tear over that asshole.

..

Some things linger even long after they have passed.

What Lucas had said plays over in Haley's mind like a record in an endless loop.

And the one question that keeps following it is why Nathan behaved the way he did.

She's nothing to him. Well, she's just another person who speaks to him a little, but other than that, Haley is pretty sure she doesn't even figure in his grand scheme of things because she's no one. She's just…she's just Haley James. One teenager amongst a sea of teenagers. Nothing special.

And when she can think of no answer to her endlessly looping question, she just pushes it to the back and chooses not to think about it because there are some things you shouldn't do. Like believe that a teenage boy like Nathan may actually care for someone like her. That, that is just like playing with fire just before it consumes you whole.

In the interest of being polite however, she thinks that she owes him at least one avowal of gratitude.

And that is not playing with fire. That's just being a good human being like her parents thought her to be.

..

At the next tutoring session, at the end of it, Haley hems and haws for a good five minutes before she thanks an impatient Nathan for defending her good name. His demeanor immediately changes from bored and impatient to guarded and Hayley is not sure if she's imagining this she can almost see a hint of vulnerability cross over his features.

"It's nothing," he says, stiff and awkward.

"But it was something Nathan." Haley rejoins gently. "Nobody has ever done that for me other than Lucas. And he does that because he's my best friend and it's kind of his thing. But a complete stranger, no, _that_ was unexpected."

'I'm a stranger to you?" Nathan questions frowning.

"Huh? No. Maybe that was the wrong way to say it. The thing is, thank you. You needn't have done anything, but you did and, I don't know, it just makes me very happy that you did." Haley smiles up at him shy and unsure of herself.

Nathan smiles, enigmatic and far away.

"You're welcome," he says and walks away.

Haley smiles, not sure why she does but pretty sure that whatever happened just now was the start of something big.

..

_"It just makes me happy that you did."_

That line replays in an endless loop in Nathan's head and it kind of fills his heart will exuberant glee.

Nobody else except him can understand how much those words mean to him.

That how good it feels to have someone like Haley, someone so _real_ and _warm_, believe him to be capable of something more than just appearances and pretenses.

Haley will probably never know this but Nathan is grateful for everyday in his life that she has been there. Cause even though she's _just_ his tutor and she's Lucas's friend and she won't talk to him much outside of class because she's too good a friend and too loyal to Lucas, she still gives him a warm genuine smile every time she sees him and even though she doesn't say anything at all, she thinks he's capable of so much more, which he can just tell by the way she teaches him, praises him when he does good, consoles him when he goes wrong and leads him down a path filled with brightness.

Nathan Scott can't help but think that maybe someday; he should make Haley his life.

And when that thought crosses his mind, he is more than surprised.

But what surprises him even more is how much he actually would like that to be true.

Someday, Nathan thinks, _someday_.

Because Haley James is teaching him how to believe.

..

a/n – Excuse this piece's lack of focus or point. The thing is, I wanted to write something between Nathan and Hayley before they happened. But since I can't seem to properly stick to canon. This is vaguely AU-ish.

Disclaimer – Obviously I can lay no claim over OTH. Not mine and never will be.


End file.
